Yesterday had to have been the most gorgeous day of the entire year- proof that God loves football! The girls had on their Auburn dresses (my friend Rebecca is coming next week to teach me to monogram- yea!)
Greg, Sus, and the kids came in town for the weekend, so we spent yesterday and today at Mom's with them... which meant extra loving on the twins
and great cousin time!
Ryan watching some football with Uncle Jake.
Grandaddy and Granny Joan joined us at the pool for swimming and pizza, and of course I made it out the door with everything we needed but our camera. After we got back, the big kids got to watch the first bit of the Auburn game!
We're working on our ability to focus on the game.
We hit the park this morning- can't get enough of this weather!
BIGGEST NEWS OF TODAY: JOY OFFICIALLY CRAWLED!!!! Bizarrely enough, it was in the exact same place in my mom's bedroom where Blythe first crawled- and two months later almost to the day! We're so proud of our Joy, and she's pretty proud of herself, too!
Here is an outtake. I think Abby Jane got distracted from her photo assistant duties.
Blythe, Blythe, Blythe. The girl is everywhere, crawling, pulling up, walking holding onto your fingers, and chewing on anything she can get her hands on. Blythe FINALLY started visibly cutting a tooth yesterday! Lack of teeth has no impact on her eating, though. The girl has a hollow leg and usually finishes off whatever Joy leaves on her tray! That appetite also includes any shoes not put away and ANY sort of vegetation she can grab when we're outside- grass, leaves, bark, etc.
This is classic Blythe- teething, and... do you notice anything missing behind her? Yes, we hung those letters at that height totally assuming we'd be out of this house before the girls were pulling up and able to reach anything!
Despite her adventurous spirit, Blythe is in the attachment phase and likes to be near Mama a lot of the time. Her favorite perch when I'm sitting on the floor is standing on my leg with one arm around me and the rest of her body facing away, too busy and independent to snuggle.
These two are big buddies- Blythe loves to follow Abby Jane and Abby Jane loves it. I often get reports ("Mama, Blythe's getting the ____!" Insert cord, TV, shoes, etc.)
Sweet Joy still only has those two teeth she got back in June. She is still not crawling, but somehow does migrate around. I predict a crawler in the next two weeks. She launches herself forward, falls, then pushes up to sitting- and ends up getting around somehow. Joy loves being read to and tries to sing along with you. She waves, claps, and plays "Where's Joy?"
She is working on pulling up, and can stand for a little while holding onto your fingers. She bounces and kicks when she gets excited. We hope she learns to crawl soon- she often gets left in whatever room everyone started in when Blythe and Abby Jane take off!
Here is Abby Jane wearing the same dress at just under 9 months. Can you tell they're sisters?!
At the last minute, we decided we couldn't pass Auburn without making a stop for a very early lunch at Byron's...
And the world's most beautiful spot for a stretch break... 
before getting back on the road. Wish we had planned better and could have seen some of y'all- glad we get to in a few weeks!
Meet Isabella, the world's smiliest four-month-old! She is such a bundle of delight, and we treasured getting to love on this young lady we all prayed for so much!
Abby Jane was enthralled, and just said this morning, "Can we go back to Isabella's house soon?"
Whit and Jeremy gave our girls lots of special attention, too! It's so precious to love on best friends' babies, isn't it?
Also coming soon on a Gross girl near you...
Abby Jane paid close attention to the soccer, and the babies paid close attention to the free inaugural cups belonging to the people behind us that were in just the right range for grabbing and trying to teethe on...
We watch human nature acted out in front of us every day...
Today we visited Jake at work- casual Fridays are nice, relaxed days to show up over there with our crew! If we had no family nearby, I would kidnap Jake's office manager, Judy, and take her home with me. She is absolutely precious and loves on all three of our girls every time we visit!
Blythe and Joy make themselves at home crawling all over Daddy...
and his office!
And look who was sitting up in her crib when I went in to get them up from their naps this morning! Her first time to go from lying down to sitting up on her own. Sweet Joy!
